Adams defends its early advantage

December 06, 2006|MARK BRADFORD Tribune Staff Writer

NEW CARLISLE -- In the first 10 minutes of play Tuesday night, Adams established a 10-point lead over New Prairie in a non-conference boys basketball game. For the next 22 minutes, the Eagles successfully defended that margin, leading to a 60-49 victory for Adams (2-0). New Prairie fell to 0-4. The early onslaught made the Cougars appear tentative, which perplexed their head coach Mike Babcock. "This was our first home game of the year," he said. "And I thought we came out flat and I don't understand that. We are a lot bigger on the boards and yet Adams outrebounded us in the first half (13-8). You have to give credit to Adams because they are very athletic and can outjump us. Still, I thought with our size, we should have done a better job on the boards." One Cougar who had a great night was senior Jeff Vervynckt, who tallied 24 points, including five 3-pointers. "Jeff is quite a player," Babcock said. "He may be the best shooter this school has had in a long time." But Tuesday night was the Eagles' night. "We are a young team with five sophomores," veteran coach Pat King said. "It is up to our three seniors to lead them, not necessarily in scoring all the time. It is the other areas that we need their leadership." Two seniors, Aaron Williams (16 points) and Anthoney Lee (13 points) led the Eagles. "Anytime you win on the road, I am happy with that," King said. "We are so young right now that every game is going to be a bit of an adventure for us. There is a learning process going on." King said controlling the tempo was important. "We knew from their previous games that they liked to play halfcourt offense," he said. "We also knew that they had problems with Marian and St. Joe's pressure defense so we wanted to try and speed them up, not necessarily steal the ball, but keep constant pressure on their point guard and try to wear him down." It was a different game after halftime, according to King. "There wasn't very much tempo after halftime," King said. "New Prairie got a lot more physical and a lot more free throws were shot. As small as we are, that just works against us." A 3-pointer by Eagle sophomore Terrance Bridgman midway through the second quarter gave Adams its largest lead at 33-15. New Prairie bounced back and closed to 39-30 with six minutes left in the third period but Adams went on an 11-4 run to put the game out of reach.